Hembery wants regionalised F1 calendar

Former Pirelli F1 boss Paul Hembery thinks the sport's calendar should be "regionalised".

While the Briton is now the Italian tyre maker's boss of Latin America, he backed new F1 owner Liberty Media's push to continue to globalise the sport.

"If we increase the number of races, we should regionalise them," he told Auto Motor und Sport.

"So one block in Europe, one in America, another in Asia. It would reduce the travel stress, and bring formula one closer to the region because they will have a 'season within the season' for a few months in their region.

"Our research has shown that many people struggle to follow F1 throughout the year when one start is in the afternoon and the next is at midnight. A question I often hear from fans is 'Is there a race on this weekend?'

"For instance, we could have eight races on consecutive weekends, and then another month's break to breathe," he proposed.